词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Emotion in Words

Today on Wordmaster with Rosanne Skirble, the emotions behind the words we say.

RS: Think of how many emotions our voices are able to convey. English teacher and Wordmaster contributor Lida Baker¹ says meaning changes by modifying the tone of voice in subtle ways. Take this simple sentence:

LIDA BAKER: "The words are: 'you cut your hair.' Now I am going to quiz you, Rosanne. I am going to say those four words in certain ways and you tell me what the emotion is that I am trying to convey. Ready?"

RS: "OK. Ready."

LIDA BAKER: "OK here we go:

"You cut your hair!

RS: "Surprise!"

LIDA BAKER: "Yes! How about this one: 'You cut your hair?'"

RS: "You don't sound like you are too happy with me. You don't like my haircut."

LIDA BAKER: "Right. Or what about this one? 'YOU CUT YOUR HAIR!' I'm sorry for shouting. Let me give you another example. The words are: 'I got 75 percent on a test.' All right, here we go again: (HAPPY TONE) 'I got 75 percent on a test.'"

RS: "You sound like the happiest (person) in town.

LIDA BAKER: "That's right. This is a student who has to work really hard to get average grades. So this student is quite pleased about the 75 percent, or else it was just a very hard test and nobody did very well and the person is just happy to have passed it."

RS: "Right because 75 percent isn't the greatest grade."

LIDA BAKER: "No. How about this one? [SURPRISED TONE] 'I got 75 percent on a test?'"

RS: "You should have gotten 100 percent, which means that you should be surprised, at least in that sentence it sounds like it."

LIDA BAKER: "Yeah. That's what I intended! Or, [SAD, DISAPPOINTED TONE] 'I got 75 percent on a test.'"

RS: "You are not happy. You are disappointed with your results.

LIDA BAKER: "Yeah. OK so, you are able to read me very well, even though you can't see my face and there is no story surrounding any one of those sentences. So it is quite amazing that you knew exactly what I was trying to convey without any other clues."

So how can a student of English as a foreign language learn these clues? Lida Baker says you can use visual cues - like facial expressions and gestures - or audio cues like pitch, volume and intonation².

LIDA BAKER: "I was thinking for example about disappointment, and I noticed that when I said 'you cut your hair' the intonation tends to be flat throughout that slightly glides³ down at the end. 'You cut your hair.' And confusion can often be expressed in the form of a question, don't you think?"

RS: "You cut your hair?"

LIDA BAKER: "Or, I got 75 percent on a test? -- go ahead."

RS: "I was just going to ask you, you know we have pitch and volume and intonation -- three cues that we can watch for -- but as you said it is very subtle and very hard for English learners to get. How can teachers help out?"

LIDA BAKER: "The first thing the teacher really needs to do is to teach students to look at context clues that can help students derive⁴ meaning from a situation such as people's facial expressions. I think knowing the relationship between speakers is helpful, and of course listening to what the people have been talking about prior to the utterance⁵."

RS: "What I hear you saying, though, is that context is so important and might be the key (to understanding) here."

LIDA BAKER: "Yes it is."

RS: "Now, when you don't have a context, like when you are talking on the telephone, what are you to do?"

LIDA BAKER: "A valuable teaching aid is to bring in video clips, just little segments and have students look at them and try to analyze⁶ the emotional content of this little small segment. First use only the audio and try to figure out what the speakers mean, and then add the visual and see what additional cues are provided when they have the visual available to them and are trying to figure out logically what the speakers could be feeling. And it just takes an enormous amount of practice."

RS: "Practice, practice and more practice."

LIDA BAKER: "Right, and I am always advocating role playing. Put the students in pairs and give them the same script. But one pair of students, give them the instruction that they are to express disappointment or sadness."

RS: "And the other (pair) approval."

LIDA BAKER: "Exactly. That's great. And then have the other students in the class guess what is going on. So then it becomes very interactive⁷."

RS: "That's great!"

LIDA BAKER: "And not to forget, (use) compensation strategies. Where all else fails, ask the person, 'What do you mean?'"

Lida Baker teaches in the American Language Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is featured in the Wordmaster archives at voanews.com/wordmaster. Our e-mail address is。。。。。。。。。。Avi Arditti will be back next week. I'm Rosanne Skirble.

 

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 intonation   

n.语调，声调；发声

参考例句：

• The teacher checks for pronunciation and intonation.老师在检查发音和语调。
• Questions are spoken with a rising intonation.疑问句是以升调说出来的。

3 glides   

n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The new dance consists of a series of glides. 这种新舞蹈中有一连串的滑步。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stately swan glides gracefully on the pond. 天鹅在池面上优美地游动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 derive   

v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• We shall derive much benefit from reading good novels.我们将从优秀小说中获得很大好处。

5 utterance   

n.用言语表达，话语，言语

参考例句：

• This utterance of his was greeted with bursts of uproarious laughter.他的讲话引起阵阵哄然大笑。
• My voice cleaves to my throat,and sob chokes my utterance.我的噪子哽咽，泣不成声。

6 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

7 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。